Unreal Past Game

Unreal Past guessing games

Choose one of the lines below but don’t tell your partner which one you chose. Explain different situations in which you might say or think that thing until your partner guesses (exactly) the “I wish…” sentence you are thinking of. Give them other hints if they get stuck.

• “I wish people were nicer”
• “I wish I had longer arms”
• “I wish I had a car”
• “I wish I had read the reviews first”
• “I wish I hadn't eaten that”
• “I wish I hadn’t drunk so much”
• “I wish I hadn’t sat on that”
• “I wish I was in another country”
• “I wish I had more friends”
• “I wish I had more money”
• “I wish I didn’t have such a big nose”
• “I wish I wasn’t so careless”
• “I wish I lived closer to the city centre”
• “I wish I could speak French”
• “I wish I had listened to my mother”
• “I wish I could fly”
• “I wish I was stronger”
• “I wish I had studied harder”
• “I wish I was asleep in bed”
• “I wish I was taller”
• “I wish I had an umbrella”
• “I wish I could read people’s minds”
• “I wish I had a gun”
• “I wish I had my own room/ flat”
• “I wish I had been born a girl/ boy”

Match these situations to the phrases above.

• I’m hitchhiking/ I’m carrying lots of shopping
• I’m in a dirty hotel room with a spring poking out of the mattress/ I’m feeling bored in a movie/ I’m the only adult in a cinema full of kids
• I have paint on the back of my trousers/ My bottom is cold
• It’s raining/ The sky is grey
• I’m alone at a pub table/ I’m alone with a birthday cake
• I have holes in my trousers/ I’m looking at a holiday brochure/ I’m looking in a shop window/ I’m looking at my credit card bill
• I’m at a boring party/ I’m waiting for the night bus.
• I don’t know what my boss thinks about my performance/ I don’t know if my boyfriend/ girlfriend loves me/ I think my wife/ husband in cheating on me.

Play the same game with your own ideas for “I wish/ If only…” sentences.  

Play the opposite game, writing down a situation and saying “I wish/ If only…” sentences that someone might say or think in that situation until your partner guesses the situation.